Andrew Gibb - Californios, Anglos, and the Performance of Oligarchy in the U.S. West

THE SEEDS OF this book were planted on a Labor Day road trip more than two decades ago, when I first experienced the golden, oak-studded hills of California and felt the draw of that states natural beauty. It was not until years later, however, when I once again experienced those hills as a transplanted Anglo midwesterner married to a Chicana, that I felt compelled to understand the unique intercultural history that had shaped such a remarkable landscape. By that time Id begun my training as a performance scholar, and it is from the particular summit where three trails meetthe aesthetic, the personal, and the intellectualthat I first looked out on the view that I attempt to share with this book.

On my climb to that promontory, I encountered many a kind soul and fellow traveler. To each is owed a debt of gratitude and a share of whatever is good about this project. Without Elizabeth Reitz Mullenix, I never would have contemplated a life of intellectual pursuit, nor could I have made such a dream come true. Ann Haugo introduced me to the joys of writing, and Jody Enders awakened me to its ethical responsibilities. At the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), where this book first began to take shape, I was surrounded by friends and mentors who made my life there possible, especially Simon Williams, Catherine Cole, Claire Conceison, Carmen DeLeon-Rendn, Linda Flegal, Mary Tench, Brian Desmond, and Jess and Riley Caldwell-OKeefe. Among those there who contributed most to the development of this particular project were Carlos Morton and William Davies King. Its greatest champion was Leo Cabranes-Grant, who not only gave freely of his time and talent but gifted me with a model of scholarship and mentorship that I will forever attempt to emulate.

Over the course of this books gestation, many colleagues generously read and responded to various versions, immeasurably improving the work. I offerspecial thanks to Rosemarie Bank, Jon Rossini, Patricia Ybarra, and Paul K. Bryant-Jackson. My developing ideas had many a willing audience at the Mid-America Theatre Conference, the Theatre Symposium of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, the American Society for Theatre Research, and the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (particularly at panels organized by the Latinx, Indigenous, and the Americas Focus Group). At those gatherings and others, I received the support and feedback of innumerable colleagues, including Jorge Huerta, Heather Nathans, Tamara Underiner, Brian Herrera, Jonathan Chambers, Megan Geigner, Chryss Allaback, Esther Kim Lee, Becky Becker, Sarah McCarroll, Lynnette Hunter, Noe Montez, Jimmy Noriega, Teresa Marrero, Roxanne Schroeder-Arce, Christina McMahon, and Suk-Young Kim. During my time at Miami University, the book continued to mature with the help of Ann Elizabeth Armstrong, Katie Johnson, and Julia Guichard. Both before and since Ive come to Texas Tech University, Dorothy Chansky has supported my intellectual and professional journey in more ways than I can count. At Tech Ive been surrounded with like-minded colleagues who urged me to take the final steps and gave me the tools to do so: a special thanks to my compatriots at the Southwest Collection, especially Monte Monroe, Andy Wilkinson, and Jennifer Spurrier; the organizers and participants of the Hispanic/Latin@ Researchers Symposium, particularly Kent Wilkinson and Jobi Martinez; the Board and Fellows of the Humanities Center; and my wonderful colleagues in the School of Theatre and Dance. Among the last group, Paul Reinsch has served as an unfailing guide through the mysteries of academic publishing.

As a work of archival research, this book is built on the labor of librarians and archivists. It has been my great privilege to work with some of the best, including the consummate professionals at the Bancroft and Huntington Libraries. The collections of a number of local archives, and the stewards to whom they are entrusted, proved equally critical to the completion of this book. Among those archivists are Dennis Copeland, manager of the city of Montereys museums, cultural arts, and archives; Gary Spradlin of the Mayo Hayes ODonnell Library; Jeff Lanzman of the Colton Hall Museum; Sandra Hansen of the Sonoma Valley Historical Society Depot Park Museum; Heather Fordham of the Society of California Pioneers; and Michael Redmon, director of research at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

My travel to those treasure houses was made possible only with the generous financial support of various individuals and institutions. I am especially grateful to Mark Charney, director of the School of Theatre and Dance at Texas Tech University, and to Elizabeth Reitz Mullenix, dean of the Collegeof Creative Arts at Miami University. I also owe special thanks to the Humanities Center at Texas Tech and its director, Dorothy Chansky. While this project was in its infancy, it benefited tremendously from a University of California presidential scholarship, and from a UCSB Department of Theater and Dance fellowship. Generous subvention awards from the American Theatre and Drama Society and the TTU Humanities Center enabled the inclusion of far more images than would have otherwise been possible.

Without the faith of series editor Scott Magelssen or the guidance of SIU Presss acquisitions editor Kristine Priddy, this book would never have made it into your hands. Nor could it have reached its potential without the insights of my attentive and supportive readers. I must also thank the hard-working staff at SIU Press, especially Linda Buhman and Wayne Larsen, for their invaluable contributions. No first-time author could ask for more steady hands at the helm.

Long before I keyed the first character of this book, I learned to write alongside and through the tutelage of Travis Stern, my oldest and most trusted academic comrade, who has urged me on through every step of this project. Will McCandless has endured my musings about California history more patiently than anyone and over the years has variously served as my sounding board, host, tour guide, and research associate. I will always think of him as a fellow Californian and a friend.